Werwolf

Werwolf was a Nazi plan to create a resistance force which would operate behind enemy lines as Allied forces advanced into Germany. In the late summer to early autumn of 1944, Heinrich Himmler ordered SS-Obergruppenfuehrer Hans-Adolf Pruetzmann to begin organizing an elite troop of volunteer forces to operate secretly behind enemy lines. Gauleiters were to select suitable recruits for training at secret locations in the Rhineland and Berlin, where they were specially trained in guerrilla tactics. However, Nazi Germany's dire supply situation prevented Werwolf units from being formed, as neither the Wehrmacht nor the Waffen-SS was willing to send weapons to an organization that had doubtful strategic value. 1,200 people were trained to take part in Werwolf operations at Thuerenberg, Czechoslovakia after 16 September 1944, and they were hidden in subterranean bunkers. Their goal was to attack Allied targets no less than 15 miles away from them after three to four weeks of hiding (following the German surrender), and they would wage guerrilla war until "final victory" was achieved. The Werwolf program was promoted by Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels, who urged every German to fight to the death in a 23 March 1945 speech. There were a few guerrilla attacks on Allied lines, but they may have just been by fanatical Nazis and SS members, not by the organized Werwolf program.